The Creative Industries Skills Audits are a new sector-wide study published today by Creative PEC and Work Advance, assessing the current and future skills needs across creative industries sub-sectors. The Skills Audits reveal that creative economy employers are ambitious for growth, with nearly 50% looking to expand their workforce, but are hampered by an outdated skills system.
The Creative Industries Skills Audits were a key commitment in the UK Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan, and represent a major new evidence base for the UK’s creative industries. Funded by the DCMS and the Creative Industries Council (CIC) and supported by eleven nationwide sector bodies representing creative sub-sectors, the Skills Audits have clear implications for policy, investment and workforce development.
Report authors: Heather Carey and Lesley Giles (Work Advance), Bernard Hay (Newcastle University)
Alongside the sector-wide summary report, today also sees the publication of eleven separate audits showing granular data for each sub-sector:
Download the sub-sector reports:
Citation
If the information in this report is used in any subsequent research and/or publications, please cite as follows:
Carey, H., Giles, L. and Hay, B. (2026) ‘Creative Industries Skills Audits’, Creative PEC. doi:10.5281/zenodo.20072107.
Key findings
- 70% of creative employers who report skills challenges say it is hindering business operations and growth potential.
- 43% of employers in the creative industries report skills shortages or gaps. 21% of employers with skills challenges say it’s hindering innovation and 19% said they are having to scale back growth or investment plans.
- Nearly 40% of creative employers say they can’t afford staff training.
- Specific creative industries skills shortages are reported for app design, 3D modelling, UX design, drawing for construction, data analysis, editing, filming, urban design, cyber security, web dev, foreign language skills (publishing) and Computer Aided Design (CAD).
- Creative employers also report a lack of vital ‘transversal’ or critical business skills, like fundraising, finance or people management: 56% of employers with skills shortages suggest recruitment difficulties are a result of applicants lacking these core skills, and 47% of employers with skills gaps suggest these skills require improvement amongst their workforce.
- Skills challenges are most acute at the mid-career level, with technological change and rapid career advancement both contributing. 43% of employers with skills shortages and 37% with gaps report problems with more experienced staff.
- Many of the roles currently subject to skills shortages are expected to face growing demand in the future, particularly for software developers; graphic and multi-media designers; and advertising and marketing executives.
- 63% of creative employers that expect to grow and upskill their workforce said demand for digital skills will grow – driven largely by hardware and software upgrades and Artificial Intelligence.
- 20% of creative employers with a skills gaps say the ‘sustainability/green’ skills of their workforce need improving.
Key recommendations:
In tackling the mismatch between the needs of a growing sector and the current skills system the report authors call for:
- Local, regional and national governments should undertake place-based creative industries skills assessments. Government, industry and educators should forge a new ‘Pact for Skills’ as part of a new chapter of genuine partnership.
- National governments should prioritise initiatives to develop ‘transversal skills’ (core skills that cut across sectors such as planning and communication skills). Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) providers should embed transversal skills into courses as standard practice, building on curriculum reforms in England.
- There is an urgent need to address concerns about the deteriorating finance of HE providers, with three-quarters of the creative workforce holding a degree or other HE qualification.
- UK Government should fund new ‘Technical Excellence Networks’ to address advanced technical skill areas such as createch, green design and AI.
- The CIC should assess how current developments in the English skills system can be best leveraged for the sector, such as through developing new short courses (Apprenticeship Units) addressing the sub-sector-specific applications of AI and sustainability skills.
- Creative industries employers should widen the talent pool from which they recruit, including young people, those disadvantaged in the labour market and underrepresented talent.
- Sector bodies should curate a package of measures for creative industries freelancers, to enable them to upgrade their skills and advance their careers, working with the new Freelance Champion.
The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP, Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts, said:
“The Creative Industries Skills Audit gives us the clearest picture yet of the skills our creative businesses need to grow and the training the workforce needs to get there. At a time of industry shifts and rapid technological change, that evidence has never been more important.
“Britain’s creative industries are world-leading – it’s our music, film and breadth of creative talent that really puts us on the map. This Government is determined to keep it that way and we know that it all starts with a highly skilled workforce.”
Baroness Shriti Vadera and Sir Peter Bazalgette, industry co-Chairs of the Creative Industries Council said:
“This is a trailblazing report: vital evidence from our 11 creative sub-sectors of the current and future skills needs of our innovative, digitally-driven sector. The Skills Audits are an essential platform for us to come together, and work with a Government that seeks to redraw the skills map. If the findings are acted upon the creative industries will deliver significantly greater cultural value and economic growth.”
Image credit: Getty
